Cousteau hands over boat to settle whale chumming case

Federal authorities used the same evidence to build cases against local marine biologist Nancy Black and the organization run by oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau.

Footage shot by Cousteau's own crew in 2004 showed his team and Black threading rope through pieces of floating gray-whale blubber to hold it near their boats so they could photograph or film a spectacular orca feeding frenzy.

Black was conducting research. Cousteau, son of famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, had crews present to film for his PBS "Ocean Adventures" series.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they were chumming in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

On Friday, Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society admitted the violation and agreed to forfeit its $30,000, 26-foot vessel, the Manfish. Black, meanwhile, is awaiting sentencing on a criminal charge.

Her April plea agreement reduced the felony complaint to one misdemeanor charge, and stipulated she will serve no prison time or forfeit her vessel. She will serve up to five years probation and 300 hours of community service and pay a fine to be determined by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila, who approved Cousteau's settlement Monday.

Whatever the fine's amount, it is expected to be dwarfed by the sum Black has spent to date on legal fees, what she described as her life's savings.

One of Black's attorneys, Larry Biegel of Monterey, said his team will point out the contrasting treatment of the two cases at her sentencing. That team includes a lawyer from Cause for Action, a conservative government watchdog group that reportedly has assumed the ongoing cost of her defense.

Quoting from the forfeiture complaint against Cousteau's organization, Biegel said his crew's footage actually showed the Manfish backing over the carcass of the baby whale as the orcas were feeding. And, unlike Black, it had no permit.

"It's just emblematic of this inconsistent approach by the government that they take what Cousteau did, which is arguably much more egregious than anything Nancy did and they don't charge him criminally, they just go after a 26-foot boat as if the boat were the culprit and not the people on the boat."

The U.S. Attorney's Office has declined to comment on its decision to file criminal charges against Black but none of Cousteau's crew.

Holly Lohuis, spokeswoman for Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society, did not respond to a request for comment Monday. In a previous email, she said the group acknowledged its mistakes but said no animals were harmed during the filming of the educational documentary.

Black's sentencing has been continued several times. Now set for Oct. 22, Biegel said it may be delayed again until November because of the unusual number of people who have written letters, on both sides of the case, to the federal public defender writing the presentencing report.

Black, co-owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, is a sometimes polarizing figure on the bay. The investigation was triggered by competing whale watch operators who complained her boats are aggressive on the water, cutting off other vessels and approaching sea mammals too closely.

But many marine scientists, here and in Oregon and Washington, came to her defense, characterizing her as a valuable researcher and the government's investigation and prosecution as overkill.